Eyes on your own paper.
Keep your focus this week as plan, research and build the world of your imagination from your dreams.
Nothing about this will be easy! But it is a far better thing to start, than to never begin!
Get to it.
With Love & Ink,
JBHarris
Ready, Set, Go! Challenge: Day3
Now that you have your first 250 words.
Added your set amount from Wednesday.
Now, GO!
In a former life, I ran. Sprints, mostly. Dear oracles, I want you to do a writing sprint for 60 minutes.
No seduction of the internet.
Mute your devices.
Just write. Focus and write.
Set your timer. And whatever you write from those 60 minutes–add to the story. No edits. Nothing being perfect. Just write.
Follow IG: @authorjbharris for the encouragement and follow up on 7/31/20.
With Love & Ink,
JBHarris
Ready, Set, Go! Challenge–Day 2
Now that you have your 500 words from yesterday (or maybe today!) Let’s and 250 more to this!
Let’s call this the ‘Set’ page. This shows that you are committed to the words you have written and the world you are creating.
This is going to be the pivot to your story!
Now you should have 3 pages. 750 words.
Get ready for the ‘Go’! on Friday.
With Love & Ink,
JBHarris
Writing is a journey and a process. As a writer, you must keep in mind thinking about writing is important before you start writing—as cliched as this sounds. It’s true! One of the most crucial things you can do as a writer is to plan out what you want to write about—if possible! This will help ease any anxiety or stress you will have when writing. Planning allows your imagination to have a map! These types of maps are important when it relates to self-rejection! These maps are most often known/referenced as an outline. While not all writers use these, however, for those writers who are comfortable using them find much success with them! They allow your imagination to be aware of what is to come. Outlines are guidelines to follow; this ability to follow the guidelines for your new work, will allow you to not panic when you put pen to paper. Never underestimate the power of the tools are your disposal! Planning–good planning!–as a writer will save you time, energy and frustration. Which, in turn, will make you more comfortable with that you want to create! Be ready to plan! Plan to be successful!
Ready, Set, Go Challenge–Part One:
Pick a genre you are comfortable with.
Give yourself 2 pages to freewrite it (Remember: 250 words= 1 typed page)
This can be a myth to a novel start, a random idea, or the writing down of a dream you had.
Give yourself 500 words. You can do it!
Check in Wednesday.
With Love & Ink,
JBHarris
For those of you that follow Encouragement Pages that post Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays–first, I thank you.
Second, this week–I am going to stretch you this week. The podcast I run (The Writers’ Block–find us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify!) dedicates perpetual Septembers to what I call Back To Writing Month. In the spirit of that, I want to challenge you all to a quick draft challenge. And what better way to debut that than with Encouragement Pages.
The ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ Challenge is something that you can use to develop a quick draft of a short story or a myth/backstory for a novel. Use your imagination!
I’m already proud of you.
#Happy Writing.
With Love & Ink,
JBHarris
Pen. Paper. Tablet. Pencil. Apple Pencil. Computer. Laptop. Kindle.
These are the weapons of your warfare.
Work your imagination to the point of frenzy! Let the work be the work you have poured yourself into.
Work like you life depends on it. I’m positive it does and will.
With Love & Ink,
JBHarris
Blank pages are worlds to be created or destroyed.
Don’t fear the silence of their noise!
Let the words from your pen, with the heartbeat of your ink silence the disbelieving. The first to believe you will always be blank pages.
With Love & Ink,
JBHarris
The first thing you need know about writing is two things.
We are all taught how to write.
We do not all write.
When you decide to take your knowledge of words from academic to creative, the first thing you need to know is you believe you can. That type of belief is paramount, and is the foundation towards building writing as a hobby or career.
That belief is built letter by letter. Word by word. Page by page. It is built on ability, availability and time. Like anything, if you want to be good at this-you must master these things. You have to be willing to work beyond what other people do. You must understand that to be gentle with yourself while building is the key to developing this belief.
Just like the Little Engine That Could, you have to believe it before you see it. Keep chugging, keep going, keep writing!
One letter. One word. One line. One page at a time.
Think about what you’re thinking about.
Writing will always involve you being aware of what you have put your imagination to work on. This type of focus will either free your or paralyze you.
Take the limits off your imagination.
Think about what would happen if you just…believed in yourself–and wrote. Just wrote…
With Love & Ink,
JBHarris
